Fatherhood

1. A lot of couples do not necessarily decide to work alternating shifts, but must work alternating shifts in order to make ends meet. Many blue collar families are forced to adapt to this lifestyle in order to maintain healthly family life. In fact, when asked why couples must alternate shifts, the number one answer is money. It also allows families to avoid the high costs of child care. Childcare averages out to cost around $140 per week, which would be quite a financial strain to most blue collar families. In addition to evading extra financial burden, some couples alternate shifts because they believe that children should only be cared for by family. These particular decisions are also directly related to their social class for a couple different reasons. First of all, since blue collar families have less money, the child care that they can afford might be worse and of lower quality.

In regards to gender ideologies, couples that work alternate shifts have not changed enough to completely change ultimate responsibility. Overall, the mothers are still "in charge" of the household work and the fathers are still the breadwinners of the family. Even though alternating shifts might be a nontraditional arrangement, couples have convinced themselves that they are still maintaining traditional gender identities since emphasis is still placed on fathers as breadwinners and mothers as being in charge of the household.

Personally, I would not actively chose to have an alternating shift arrangement for my family, but if my husband's salary alone could not support me staying at home with the children, then I would definitely try to implement this lifestyle. I would imagine that alternating shifts would be extremely beneficial for the children, because they would be able to interact with both parents on a relatively equal basis. The only concern I would have with this lifestyle is the strains that it would put on my relationship with my husband. I tend to get very emotionally attached to the people I love, so after awhile I would probably get very frustrated with the constant separation from my husband.

2. Over the course of history, fatherhood has transformed dramatically. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the father was seen as the moral overseer and was responsible for having the greatest influence on their children. Since men were believed to have "supreme reason," it was up to them to instruct the children. Women were known to be misled by passions and affections and were clearly not as stable as their male counterparts. However, fathers and sons tended to have rather emotional relationships, which seems to contradict the negative view of women at that time. Moving into the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, fathers were seen as distant breadwinners. This particular shift is said to have cemented a new ideology about gender. This marks the beginning of maternal roles and paternal roles. The father still continued to set the official standard of morality, but not so much as before. Now, he was only expected to step in when the mother's disciplinary efforts failed. Between 1940 and 1965, the father was seen as a sex role model. Due to WWII many fathers were absent and could certainly offer no paternal support to their families. So upon their return home, they were encouraged to have paternal involvement with their children. This new transformation was reminiscent of the moral involvement model that was seen in the 18th and early 19th centuries. As for present day, the father breadwinner model has certainly prevailed as the dominant model. But today, men are spending more time with the family because more wives are employed outside the household. So, in a sense, it is as if all three models have been combined into one. Expectations for the father's involvement with the family are certainly a lot higher. When the mother is out working, fathers must take charge of some household duties. This was especially seen in the alternating shifts model.

3. Many Black communities are very matriarchal and as a result, fatherlessness has always been a symptom of this structure. Society has not deemed the Black man as a worthy figure and/or mentor. These societal forces has prevented them from having positive effects on their children. Also, stereotypes and certain portrayals of Black men (gangster rappers, hustlers, rapists, drug dealers etc.) has kept them farther and farther away from dominating their families (as White men do). In addition, high rates of unemployment and incarceration have contributed to the high rate of Black single motherhood. Families certainly have a hard time functioning with unemployed parents, so it makes sense that there a lot more single mothers who would rather live off welfare. On the same tolken, these single mothers are certainly not looking to marry a man who is incarcerated. These are the main elements that have created the myth of the Absent Black Father. On the contrary, there are contradictions to this myth. In a national study, Stephanie Coontz reported that "poor African-American, officially absent fathers actually had more contact with their children and gave them more informal support than did White, middle-class absent father." So the absent Black father should not be blamed for his lack of involvement, but rather for his marital and economic status. Welfare policies have kept men out of homes for decades, which certainly makes it that much harder to maintain their presence. In conclusion both Black men and women should work towards the betterment of their childrens' lives because, at the end of the day, that is most important.